None of his files—now totaling 300 songs and 50 movies—will play on the new player. He bought and paid for all this content, but it only works with iPods and iTunes. Apple has an iPod customer for life. Microsoft never had this kind of monopoly power.
I disagree with his point there. Before the days of MacTel and virtualization software like Parallels, anyone who wanted to switch from Windows to Mac would arguably have to give up all their software for Windows, and buy Mac-native versions or similar substitutes. If you owned alot of Windows-only software, it tends to be a bit pricey even after the high premium of buying a Mac.
Windows still has a monopoly there in the computing market. Alot of the consumer software sold at places like Wal-Mart, or even games sold at outlets like GameStop, is still Windows-only unless it’s sold as a hybrid. The last time I ever found a Mac-only piece of software at big box store was years ago. For anything else, I have to go online and buy it.
PC software is still one of the many reasons why people don’t switch to a Mac. The average person wants to walk into a store and take it home with them the same day. Now granted, alot of that PC software might be complete shit, so as Mac users we usually get decent and clean programs, but not everyone who gets a Mac cares or even knows.
Like I said, in recent years with software like Parallels, it’s become easier to transition, but the fact remains, Parallels is still a wrapper for Windows. And as long as you still need Windows to run software that is only made for it, then Microsoft will maintain it’s monopoly there, Linux or not. Most times, open source software can be klunky, backward, or hard to use, and far from an alternative to a proprietary program that gets the job done.
Apple can’t compete with Microsoft there. They tried for years with no success. But they have been making the right decisions lately to bring more interest back to the Mac by switching to a new OS foundation, giving away the development tools, switching to the same processor architecture, creating a better experience…. They’re encouraging native Mac development as much as possible (aside from opening up OS X to run on any hardware), but it’s up to who develops what for the Mac. We’ve always said, the Mac needs more serious, killer apps that are Mac-only. Apple makes a few of their own, like Final Cut, etc., but it’s going to take others. (And maybe slightly more cheaper hardware for budget consumers, I want to see Macs back in places like Circuit City). Oh and Santa, Raws wants new video cards too. 
The guy who wrote the article makes some OK points, but notice how iTunes is for Windows too? iTunes would have never succeeded if they didn’t port it to Windows. So Apple is still promoting development for Windows by positioning itself as one of the largest developers for Windows. Apple’s success is piggy-backing off of Microsoft’s dominance in consumer operating systems. Devices like the iPod are not independent. They still require the use of a computer to sync with. And most computers run what? Windows!
Apple just found a different way to make money. They took a different path rather than software and computer sales alone. And they did so at the right time as the Internet has become the medium of distribution and digital downloads the format for consumption of media. Consumer devices are all the craze, and Apple does it well for sure.
